Career dreams and who inspired you?

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about career dreams and the people who influenced my ambitions. Looking back, I think I was so focused on doing ‘my best’ in class and, subsequently, in college that I never really took the time out to properly dream about my dreams!

Of course, back in the 80s when I was growing up, Ireland was in (another) recession, so a good pensionable job was seen as the Holy Grail of professional attainment! Career options for us girls were Teacher, Nurse, Nun (yes, it was still seen as a viable option!) and, if you didn’t have family in a professional field such as law or accountancy, that world remained a fuzzy mystery and a seemingly closed shop. So who did influence my dreams? It was the movie stars of my early teens that really got me dreaming, Melanie Griffith in Working Girl, Diane Keaton in Baby Boom, Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone and of course my all-time favourite, ‘Baby’ in the corner who wanted to be a Doctor and then found a Dancer!! These stories were about women discovering their independence, and their voice. They involved big hair, big shoulder pads and big dreams and as I watched them on the big screen in a small town in Tipperary, I was with them every step of the way!

I hope that the current generation of young women watching movies, listening to music and reading books are influenced by strong, funny, independent and authentic role models. Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Jennifer Lawrence, Florence Welch, Lorde, these women make me hopeful.

For my generation: I salute you, Jennifer, Melanie, Diane and Kathleen, thank you for lighting my fire for dreaming and dancing!